Tim raised an eyebrow, then leaned in for a deep sniff. His expression shifted from curiosity to disappointment as he recoiled slightly.

Alice’s face fell, her ears drooping. "Tim? What’s wrong?"

"I’m looking for that sweet smell from last night," Tim said, completely oblivious to Alice’s dejected expression. "It was incredible, like honey and cinnamon and something I can’t even describe."

Felicity felt heat rise to her cheeks as she realised what they were talking about. Her pregnancy had changed her scent, making it more potent, more alluring to unmated males. She hid her face in Exile’s chest, hiding.

Exile’s arm tightened around her waist. "We should keep moving," he murmured against her ear. "The sooner we reach Bowral, the better."

As they continued down the road, Felicity caught Dimitri watching her with an intensity that made her stomach flutter. His red eyes tracked her every movement, protective and hungry in equal measure.

"Don’t worry," Exile said quietly, following her gaze. "He knows the boundaries. For now."

Felicity nodded, her hand drifting to her belly where four tiny lives were growing. The world might be falling apart around them, but in this moment, surrounded by the men who loved her, she felt safer than she had in months. ​Exile POV Exile felt Felicity nestle deeper against his chest, and a primal satisfaction rippled through him. The way her small frame fit perfectly against his larger one, the soft tempo of her breathing, the intoxicating scent of her that made his beast want to hiss with triumph, it all centred him in a way nothing else could.

He would burn cities for her. Tear apart anyone who threatened her. Peel his own flesh from his bones if it meant keeping her safe. The four tiny lives growing inside her weren’t just her children; they were his legacy, his bloodline continuing through the apocalypse.

His fingers traced gentle circles on her belly, feeling the subtle shifts beneath his palm. The cubs were growing stronger every day. Soon, they would need more space, more resources. More protection. Exile’s jaw tightened at the thought. He’d already eliminated three separate groups of beast men that had come too close to their territory. He’d do it again. A thousand times if necessary.

For weeks after that first glimpse, he’d stalked her movements, learning her patterns. The way she’d pause to examine wildflowers growing through cracked pavement. How she’d hum under her breath when she thought no one was listening. There was a subtle shift in her scent when she was frightened versus when she was content.

He’d watched her sleep through binoculars from a half-collapsed office building, memorising the rise and fall of her chest, the flutter of her eyelids during dreams. He’d tracked her scent through abandoned streets, learning to distinguish it from all others, sweeter, richer, like honey and cinnamon with an underlying note that was uniquely hers.

Even before they’d spoken, he’d known he would kill for her. Die for her. He’d followed her for three months, eliminating threats before they could even spot her, carving a safe path through the wasteland she traversed.

Now she was his. Theirs. His beast hissed with possessive pleasure as Dimitri’s gaze lingered on Felicity from across from him on the road. The leopard knew his place, at least. They all did. Exile’s dominance was absolute, his claim unbreakable.

"You’re thinking too loudly," Felicity murmured, her voice sleepy against his chest.

Exile pressed his lips to her forehead, inhaling deeply. "Just planning our route."

It wasn’t entirely a lie. Every thought he had centred around her safety, her comfort. The others might think him cold, calculating, and they weren’t wrong. But everything he did, every decision he made, was filtered through a single question: What’s best for her?

The cubs kicked beneath his palm, and Felicity’s soft gasp made his chest tighten with something he refused to name. Love was too small a word for what he felt. It was obsession, possession, worship, all wrapped in a burning need to protect.

"Rest," he commanded softly. "I’ll keep moving."

As her breathing deepened, Exile’s eyes scanned the horizon, cataloguing every shadow, every movement. Nothing would harm her. Not while he drew breath.

Back near the end of the teams stood Richard. Richard’s thin lips curved into a smirk as he casually kicked at a loose stone. "You know, this little family unit you’ve got going is adorable. But how long do you think it’ll last when the babies come? Four at once?" He snorted. "Good luck with that. I give it a month before someone snaps and pins her down to have their own cubs instead of someone else’s."

The air around Dimitri seemed to shimmer with heat. Felicity woke and felt it, first a pressure building against her skin like the moment before a thunderstorm. Then the ground beneath them trembled.

"What’s happening?" she said sleepily as she clutched Exile’s chest, but it was too late.

Dimitri’s aura erupted in a visible wave of crimson energy that rippled outward. The asphalt beneath their feet cracked with a sound like thunder, cracks appearing across the road. The temperature spiked so suddenly that Felicity gasped, her skin prickling with sweat.

Richard stumbled backward, his smug expression dissolving into genuine fear as Dimitri advanced on him. The wolf-man’s eyes glowed like embers, his canines visibly extending.

"You exist because she allows it," Dimitri growled, his voice dropping to a register that vibrated through Felicity’s bones. "Remember that. Your life is not your own; it is hers. A gift she gives you each day."

Richard raised his hands in surrender, but Dimitri wasn’t finished. He closed the distance between them in a heartbeat, gripping Richard by the throat without actually touching him, his power holding the man suspended inches off the ground.

"One more word against our family," Dimitri whispered, "and I will tear you apart while you watch. Do you understand?"

"Dimitri," Felicity called out from the shelter of Exile’s arms, her voice soft but cutting through the charged air. "Stop."

The tension in Dimitri’s body didn’t immediately dissipate, but he lowered Richard back to the ground. The man coughed, rubbing his throat where invisible fingers had gripped him.

"I meant no offence," Richard said, though the gleam in his eyes suggested otherwise. "Just making conversation."

Felicity watched as Dimitri’s aura slowly receded, the red glow fading from his eyes. The cracks in the road remained. She let out a slow breath and turned until she found Victor among the group.

"Victor." Her voice came out quieter than she intended, but steady. She waited until she had his full attention. "We need to do something about Richard."